Success in Your Zone

[WildLife]

Howdy,
The thread about best weather to grow in, spurred
me to post this thread.
I am new to heirlooms and consequently I have
no experience with varieties best suited to
my area. My previous years have been hyb seedlings
sold at my local garden center. I have agonized over
which of the "prime" heirlooms I should attempt to
grow. I gather from reading the web that certain
var do well in certain climates. Which ones where I don't
know, I picked a peckle of diff types to up my success
chances. So........
What heirloom varieties have you grow sucessfully
in your zone, granted weather doesn't always co-op
but generally? Please pick 1 best suited and 1 not suited
and general weather that you had.
I for one will benefit from this and I hope others as well!
Thank you
Wild "if I knew what u knew" Life

[pooklette]

Disclaimer: Last summer was my first growing heirloom tomatoes so my comments are based only on one newby summer.

My Zone 5 Weather for 2005: (Month, average high/low temps, precip format)
April, 50/30, very little rainfall
May, 68/47, little rain until the end of the month...then flash floods for a week straight
June, 80/55, very little rainfall/moderate drout conditions
July, 90/65, no rainfall/extreme drout conditions
August, 85/60, very little rainfall/severe drout conditions
September, 75/50, very little rainfall/severe drout
October, 58/39, minimal rain/moderate drout conditions

*We had to water the plants in the ground daily from July - October. The potted maters had to be watered twice a day in July and August because the pots were black and the moisture just seemed to get cooked right out during the day.

Varieties that did well:
Amish Paste
Big Rainbow
Cherokee Purple
Brandywine (a PL leaf pink from Baker Creek...not sure if it was Sudduth's.)
Giant Belgium (this one was the only potted one that did well)

Varieties that did not do well:
San Marzano - these were the most watery, pathetic, tasteless tomatoes I've ever grown. This one was planted in the ground.
Black Krim - Horrible concentric cracking. This was one of the plants in the black pots. Probably my newby fault.
Black from Tula - Horrible BER no matter how I watered or what I fertilized with. This one was also in a pot.
Paul Robeson - I got a whole 1 tomato from this plant. There were plenty of blossoms throughout the season but I only got 1 mater out of the lot.

Best of the bunch: Amish Paste, followed closely by Big Rainbow and Cherokee Purple (based on performance/yield)

Worst of the bunch: Tie between Black Krim and Black from Tula (based on performance/yield)

One important note...most of my 'varieties that did well' were planted in the ground. I guess if you assume my potted plants suffered due to my clumsy newbyness, you can still see that the 'good varieties' are tough cookies. They survived through a major drout and a nervous newby gardner. That says a lot.

[WildLife]

Thank you pookette,
You went above and beyond and gave good info.
I enjoyed your report and will add you experiences to
my memory. It looks like 2 I want to try
Cherokee, and Brandywine will have a chance.
Would you concider them cool varieties?
Wild "every little bit" Life

[pooklette]

Originally Posted by WildLife

Would you concider them cool varieties?

Cool as in 'colder climate' or cool as in 'awesome'?

From what I have read, Brandywine does well in places that have a longer growing season than my zone 5 has...but it did all right here anyway. My Brandywines ripened a bit late in the season but I did manage to get a bunch of very tasty tomatoes from my plants before frost.

Cherokee Purple seems to be content in a wide variety of climates. I've read rave reviews for both Brandywine and Cherokee Purple from all over the US.

I loved the flavor of both and they easily earned spots on my 'must grow' list for this year.

[WildLife]

Pooklette,
I like the way you think... its cooll
Wild "shades on low" Life